Terry Zhou

Professor Cartwright
History 100
4 December 2014
A History of Military Advancements 1000 AD 1500 AD
Civilizations implemented many military developments around the world but the majority
of these changes occurred Europe and Asia between 1000 AD and 1500 AD. These military
advancements occurred in both offensive and defensive strategies. In the European theatre,
prominent advancements included the evolution of castles, developments in cavalry, and the
advancement in ranged warfare. On the other side world in the Far East, developments such as
the invention of gunpowder and the adoption of the recurve bow took place, forever changing
military strategy.
Major advancements in Asia involve the Mongols and the Song Dynasty. Although the
Mongols are composed of small, fractious tribes, they caused high problems within the Chinese
empire. Their raids across the border caused massive havoc within the Chinese empire mainly
because of their raid strategy. The Mongols utilized fast horses and were adept at using the
recurve bow. At the hands of a skilled archer, the recurve bow was accurate up to 350 yards. The
nomadic Mongols were trained in both archery and horse-riding at a very young age. With these
two important skills, Mongol horseback archers were a feared and respected force in Asia. Even
after Kublai Khan united the Mongol tribes and conquered the Song dynasty, Mongols continued
to keep horseback archers as the backbone of their military.
The Song dynasty placed a heavy emphasis on their military, spending 75% of the
national income for military expenditures. On land, their military operated advanced and

intimidating weaponry created and developed through use of gunpowder. The Song perfected the
recipe of gunpowder which was composed of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur. Using this recipe,
the Song was able to adapt it for military use in weapons such as fire-lances, flamethrowers, and
grenades. A precursor to the modern firearm, the fire-lance is an upgrade for spearmen, giving
them an edge in hand to hand combat. A fire lance is composed of a bamboo canister filled with
shrapnel and gunpowder is mounted to a spear. In combat, the user would ignite a fuse attached
to the canister, firing shrapnel towards their enemies. These explosions were not designed to kill
but rather to confuse and distract their enemies. Fire-lances were highly effective in both
defensive and offensive strategies. Fired from walls, fire-lances were especially useful in
repelling invaders attempting to scale walls.
The Song also invested heavily in their naval forces. The Song was the first to establish a
standing naval force. Naval assets were important to the Song because of the two major rivers,
the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers. The Song fought many engagements along these two rivers,
one of them the Battle of Caishi which pitted the Song against the Jin Empire in 1161 AD. The
Song naval forces were mostly all paddleboats equipped with trebuchets and powered by sailors
below decks. These trebuchets hurled incendiary bombs at their targets. In addition to these
paddleboats, the Song also employed fireboats. These fireboats were essentially floating bombs.
Set on fire, these cheap boats would float downstream towards enemy vessels and spread the
inferno. Combined, these naval assets allowed the Song to win numerous naval battles.
After Kublai Khan conquered the Song Empire, he spread his empire westward. His
forces started a campaign of terror as they expanded westward. In combat, his horsemen would
fake retreats as a strategy. If the enemy pursued, the mounted archers would turnaround and
shoot, harassing their enemies. The army also committed many atrocities such as raping and

pillaging to sow fear within civilian populations. The Mongols conflicted with civilizations on all
sides. To the north, they tussled with the Russians while to the west they destroyed the Islamic
Caliphate. However, to the East, the Mongols were unable to conquer the Japanese mainland..
Kublai Khans dreams of conquering Japan ultimately bankrupted China after two large-scale
invasions failed. The Mongols are also directly responsible for spreading the Black Death. In the
siege of the Genoese city of Caffa, a plague struck the Mongolian camp. Mongols began using
the plague-ridden bodies as projectiles and used catapults to launch them into the walled city.
This biological warfare spread across Europe and ultimately killed around a third of Europes
population.
Many developments in Europe were implemented after carrying over from the Middle
East and Asia. Before the Crusades, Europeans lived in motte-and-bailey castles. These
rudimentary castles were simple to build with unskilled forced labor. They featured a moat with a
wooden palisade. Within the wooden walls was an artificial earthen mound where a keep was
located with fortifications. However, during the Crusades, knights encountered cities with stone
fortifications in the Middle East and brought back this ideology, evolving motte-and-bailey
castles into larger and more extravagant stone fortresses as the Europe became wealthier.
Theories and strategies were changing on the battlefield as technology was brought back
from campaigns and trade routes within the East. During the Crusades, knights wore chainmail
armor. However, as Europe became wealthier, nobles were able to upgrade their armor.
Following the Crusades, knights were equipped with heavy plate armor. To carry their hefty
weight, horses were bred for size and strength. On the battlefield, nobles fought chivalrously.
Nobles fought not to kill but rather to subdue. Knights used long lances to knock their enemies
off of their horses. Captured nobles were then ransomed off to their families following combat.

However, as cavalry became an essential part of warfare in medieval Europe, certain

counter measures were developed. Caltrops were deployed on the battlefield to cripple the
knights horses. These sharp pieces of metal could maim horses feet and incapacitate them,
throwing off the riders. After the Black Death swept through Europe, kings needed more
manpower in their military. This marks the switch from cavalry to infantry, from the dominance
of nobility to the rise of the lower classes in warfare. Anti-cavalry countermeasures could be seen
with the rise of pike men and archers. Pike men wielded 12 -14 foot long spears to challenge
mounted knights. Charging knights could not slow down and would impale themselves on
entrenched pike men. This can be seen in the Battle of Agincourt where French knights charged a
force of English pike men. Because of their lighter equipment, the pike men were able to arrive
at the battlefield earlier because of their higher mobility. The pike men set up formations below a
hill. The charging knights gained high momentum running down the hill before impaling
themselves on the pike mens weapons. Another potent weapon against mounted units are
archers. Bows varied between two main types, the longbow and the crossbow. The longbow is
between 6-8 feet long and is fired at an arc. The longbow is capable of penetrating plate armor at
a ma x range of 150 yards. While the longbow requires more skill, trained archers can fire 6-8
arrows per minute. On the other hand, the crossbow can penetrate armor at 100 yards and is
much easier to train soldiers to use. However, it is much slower to reload compared to a trained
longbow archer.
After news of gunpowder reached Europe, many ways were developed to use this
powerful weapon. Europeans developed cannons that changed the way siege warfare was fought.
Cannons easily could reduce fortified walls of castles. The French used this to great advantage,
ending the Hundred Years War in 1435 after using cannons to overrun the last English

fortifications in Europe. Early cannons were muzzle loaded bronze cast tubes and fired large
stone projectiles. A fuse connected the gunpowder behind the projectile to the rear of the cannon.
Cannons effectively ended the era of castles and walled cities.
Although the majority of military developments occurred in Europe and Asia, Central
America also featured a few developments. The Aztecs developed the atlatl, a spear-throwing
device that could allow users to throw farther with much more velocity. Both the Aztecs and
Incans featured large and well-organized militaries that utilized little to none light armor.
Military advances in technology occurred both in Europe and Asia. Asia featured the
development of the recurve bow and most importantly, gunpowder. Europe quickly developed
ways to use gunpowder after its concept flowed westward. Europe is also well known for its
heavily armored knights and extravagant castles. These military advancements revolutionized the
battlefield and the way war is fought today.

Works Cited
Military in Asia to c. 1200 AD
-Diagram of a flamethrower, Wujing Zongyao Manuscript, 1044 AD
-Fire-lance, Huolingjiang manuscript, 14th century
-Depiction of demons with a fire-lance and a grenade, Dunhuang Murals, c. 950 AD
-River galley with a catapult, Wujing Zongyao manuscript, 1044 AD
-Fireships, Wujing Zongyao manuscript,1044 AD
-Chinese paddle-wheel ship, from a 1726 encyclopedia
-Battle of Caishi, Song Dynasty and Jin, 1161 AD
Military in the Medieval West to 1200
-Castles, Harlech Castle, Wales
-Motte and Bailey Castles, The Bayeux Tapestry c. 1080
-15th Century Armor, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Late Medieval Military in Asia and the West to 1400 AD
-Mongol Empire c. 1294
-Two medieval images of Mongolian horse-archers, 15th Century AD
-Reconstruction of 13th Century Mongol Armor Genghis Khan Exhibit Field Museum,
Chicago, 2012
-The Trebuchet
-Beaumaris Castle, Isle of Anglesey, Wales c. 1295
-15th Century Armor Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Empires of the Americas to 1500 AD
-Atlatl in Use, Codex Colombino-Becker, folio 10, 11th Century AD
-Diagram of an Atlatl in use
-Ceremonial Atlatl, Peru., c. 300 AD
Military in the 1400s
-15th Century Armor Metropolitan Museum of Art
-English Military Innovations in the 14th Century
-Re-enactment of 15th Century Swiss Pike Square, Geneva, 2009 Photograph by Rama,
Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
-Longbows and Crossbows
- The Siege of Bordeaux, 15th Century Illumination from the Chronicle of Jean Froissart